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Enemy Of The Mind
The Jackson Legacy Part One Point Five Enemy Of The Mind This is an exclusive preview. The final short story will be posted somewhere in 2012...or maybe earlier than that. The story takes place between the events of "Nameless Finder" and "Thousand Enemies". The story's protagonist is none other than Leo "Flamingo" Valdez. It revolves around the livelihood of the adult demigods, and the operation of the Esperanza and other organizations. It is also where the "Greek Red Mark" curse is explained, along with Leo's darkest secret... NOTE: '''The Preview only includes '''Part two and Part three of the short story. Until the full story is here, the formatting of this page will be fixed, and grammar and stuff will also be fixed. Planned Parts (subjected to change in the future): Part One: Just A Dream (Leo's POV) Part Two: The Tenants Of The Red House (Esperanza Group's POV) Part Three: The Pegasus and Its Rider (Leo's POV) Part Four: Catching Up With Friends (Leo's POV) Part Five: Piper McLean (Esperanza Group's POV) Part Six: Breakfast At The Red House (Piper's POV) Part Seven: Story Time At The Garage And Everywhere Else (Leo's POV) Part Eight: The Demigod Festival (Piper's POV) Part Nine: "Explain, McLean: What Do You See In Me?" (Leo's POV) Part Ten: Secrets Revealed (Piper's POV) Part Eleven: Heavy Rain (Leo's POV) Part Twelve: Confessions Of A Depressed Demigod (Leo's POV) Part Thirteen: Greetings and Farewells, From Your Friend (Leo's POV) Part Fourteen: The Tenants' Thoughts (Esperanza Group's POV) Part Fifteen: '''The Mortals' Thoughts (Peter and Laura's POV) '''BONUS: "I Know Now." (Piper's POV) Another note: These are not chapters. They are just line breakers. ---- Part Two: The Tenants Of The Red house “Uh-oh, guys. Look who just came out from the shop in this time of the hour,” Travis Stoll squinted, gesturing the others to come. The guests of the Red House quickly scrambled out of their seats and crammed around the room’s windows. They made sure that their faces were concealed by the curtains, careful that they wouldn’t be seen. Travis took out his binoculars from his pocket and placed them on his eyes. “Yep, it’s him alright,” he announced. “It’s our mighty leader coming out of his auto shop, looking worn out and angry…my best guess that he’s angry to himself. Or the gods.” Everyone nodded and continued watching said mighty leader. Leo Valdez was busy closing the shutters of his auto shop in the middle of the night, murmuring to himself. After that, he kicked the shutters, called his automaton wolves from his hidden backyard and marched away from view. Everyone in the living room groaned in disappointment and went back to their seats. “It’s probably one of those nights,” Connor said, standing at Travis’s side. “He must be having a bad dream that’s been triggered by his curse.” “I really wonder what it is…but I know it has something to do with his deep, dark secret he’s been hiding from us all this years,” Travis said darkly. “I’m getting the feeling it has something to do with his love life or something.” There was a moment of silence before everyone in the room burst in laughter. “Yeah, right! The mighty Dragon from the South, malfunctions because of love? Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me! There has to be something else!” But then the laughter died down quickly when they had reached same conclusion in their minds. “No, that’s impossible,” Chris Rodriguez shook his head. “Valdez doesn’t look like he’s interested in getting someone since…since he graduated flight school. And that was eleven years ago.” “Love curses don’t exist.” The majority of the guests nodded in agreement. “That’ll be like cheating.” “And besides! I think he plans to stay single,” said another guest. “I mean, ten years straight is a record!” “At the same time, that’s very unlikely of him,” A tall man replied. “I may not know him long like some of you, but I know that he usually likes to be around women when he was around Laura’s age. He was somehow close to a womanizer.” They all cringed, even the mortal guests and helpers of the building. “I’m pretty sure it isn’t about love. I know it’s something worse than that.” “Worse than love?” they all gasped dramatically. Travis placed a hand on his face. “No, you idiots. Ah, never mind. Let’s just drop this discussion. It’s already bad we’rve been talking behind Flamingo’s back. I don’t want rumors to spread out.” Silence again. The caretakers of the house came inside the living room, bringing them their midnight snacks, and placed them on the coffee tables. One of them looked indignantly at them. “Look, you gossiping geese,” she said. “If you all are planning to stay in this building, then you better do housework. That means repainting the walls, retiling the floors, building new doors, and daily household chores--” The men inside the room groaned. The girl simply shook her head. “Look, at least Mr. Valdez gave you a place to stay for a while until you get real jobs. You should all be thankful he took you in. You are all in no position to gossip about him, make fun of him and other things like that.” “Who are you, our mother?” retorted one of the adults. Most of the guests laughed. “Show the man some respect!” the girl said, looking frustrated. “Demigods! Will they ever grow up?” That very statement silenced the visitors. The girl pursed her lips and sighed. “Everyone’s just tired. I’ll go get the cots, okay?” She left the living room and ran up to the stairs. “Hey,” someone started. “I’ve heard that demigod dreams aren’t normal, and it’s supposed to signify something, right? Well, when’s the usual time Leo would go out because of a dream?” They all shrugged. Then, slowly, they came to realize that they didn’t know their leader very well. Leo was an open guy to everyone. He even gave away his real name whenever newcomers were to come here in the city. He was a carefree guy who likes to joke around, and he wasn’t picky and was willing to help anyone. But that was pretty much about it. They had heard a lot of things about Leo, but some of them didn’t match his current description lately. They heard a loud knock on the front door, and someone at the hallway shouted. “Laura, could you get that?” Minutes later, two people came inside the living room, taking off their jackets and greeting the guests. “Frank, Hazel, what brings you here?” said Travis, grinning at them. Both of them smiled back. “We decided to stop by here for a while,” Hazel said, marching to an available window. “Is Leo…?” Travis shook his head. “No, he went out.” “I see,” Hazel looked at Frank, who nodded grimly. “We have a message for him. We couldn’t bring ourselves to send it via telegraphy, or Iris-message or hawk-messaging or whatever distant communication. He has to hear this, personally.” “But maybe…” Frank said. “Maybe he shouldn’t hear about this today. It’s about his friends. Well, a particular one.” Everyone looked at each other. A particular one. Leo had many friends, so they couldn’t pinpoint anyone special, unless… “Let’s not tell him about it. Maybe it’s for his sake.” Hazel sat down on a couch and gestured Frank to do the same. “He’ll have to find out for himself. Frank, call Nico for me. She might come tomorrow and confront Leo. He might need some back-up.” A She. The guests’ fears have been confirmed. She’s coming into the city, whether it was for the good of the Esperanza, or trouble. They had heard stories of her and her adventures from the children of Leo’s neighborhood. If the girl in the story was really her… “Let’s just hope she doesn’t know where Leo lives,” Frank said, taking a drachma, the Greeks’ currency, and was making his way to the bathroom, which was across the hallway. “She’s a dangerous woman. I may not know her as much as Leo does, but know she’s going to give the Dragon a heart attack.” “I’m worried about him, too, Frank.” Hazel glanced at the window, and saw Leo going back inside his auto shop, looking calm and collected. ---- Part Three: The Pegasus And Its Rider The next day was normal spring day for Leo Valdez, until a winged horse and its rider came stomping in front of his house. Earlier that day, Leo was sending out telegrams to the members of the Esperanza around the city for a meeting that would happen tomorrow at the new headquarters, in which the people named it The Red House (which sat at the other side of the street, just facing Leo’s auto shop). Meeting at HQ. Status Report. Strategy Talk. Chicken for Dinner. The majority replied back saying that they would just come for the chicken, but they hastily added that they would also come to report their standings when they received a cleverly styled typography artwork of an angry cute bear (Winnie the Pooh?) by Leo, using only his telegram machine to create the picture. (No one had bothered to question the mechanic’s artistic skills yet.) An hour later inside of the house, Nico di Angelo decided to visit him with news. “Leo, I got news and it’s big,” Nico grabbed the remote control of Leo’s 1960s model of a TV and started browsing the channels until he arrived at channel 599. “There’s a riot in Miami and I heard a lot of mortals got injured. There was a massive explosion, and the news says that demigods started it.” Leo nodded while sipping his morning coffee. This was everyday occurrence, after all. Now that they were adults, instead of their demigod scent growing faint, it just grew stronger the longer you live. They continued to watch the TV and kept an eye out for interesting headlines. Explosion, explosion, shark attack, explosion… Nothing new, to Leo’s disappointment. “By the way, where’s Peter?” Nico asked, looking around the living room for a brief moment before turning his attention back to the TV. “On a field trip. He’ll be back in a week or so. He brought Ann with him,” Leo replied, trying to hide his smugness. “So I have the whole house for myself…for now.” They started talking about the usual things: about Nico’s fiancé, recruitments for the group, cars and traveling, and other things. Soon, they started talking about the idea of time-traveling, which Leo found ridiculous. A couple of hours later, during lunchtime, Travis Stoll of Hermes Godly Supplies decided to join in. “Connor told me to get a day off for a while and make room for the part-timers,” He said. “And oh, I got a couple of telegram slips for you, Leo.” Travis held a plastic bag full of paper in front of Leo’s face. “You should considering on building another telegram machine for yourself, man, and maybe place it on headquarters. They won’t track your address or anything.” Leo took the bag. “I know, I know. I was considering it. But it’s for extra precautions. If they found me, the whole movement'' would be exposed. It’s already bad that Camp Half-Blood knows where I am, and I couldn’t risk exposing myself as, like, the leader.” Nico and Travis nodded. “Well, just be glad the ''Oneiro couldn’t reveal your name to them,” Nico said. “I heard that some oracle shouted your name in frustration once.” “Last December, yeah. He looked a pretty pained just to saying it. Like I said, I don’t give that permission away from them.” “Even the current Oracle of Delphi?” Travis said. Leo grimly nodded. “Yeah, Rachel too, just to be in safe ground. She could, though, write it down, the name I mean.” He fished out one of the telegram slips of the bag. “''‘Looking forward for the festival, Mr. F. I’m going to stand The Gladiator Booth for a couple of days. Hope to see you there.’ This is from Sunny the Roman, our Roman friend who likes the sun.” Nico and Travis stifled a giggle. They helped out Leo in translating the slips of paper, seldom laughing about messages about the upcoming festival, seldom looking at Leo with concern when the messages talked about possibilities of war between clans. Travis left a little while later when he received a text message from Connor asking him to come back and help him in the store. Leo and Nico were alone again to talk about military strategies if there was a possibility of war coming soon. It was best to be prepared for it. “Well, I’m off,” Nico announced after hours of random discussions, making his way back to the garage. “I have to help my dad with his paperwork,” he grumbled. “Complaint papers. There’s too much if them that we’re planning on building a pool for it.” Leo followed him outside, “Hey, are you coming for the meeting tomorrow?” “I’ll try,” Nico shrugged. He brought his jacket around him and he was about to take his first step on the pavement when they heard the flapping of large wings. They searched around the source of the sound, and then later, they caught a sight of a brown figure emerging at the far corner of the street. Leo and Nico couldn’t see much with only the streetlights, but the figure was coming towards their direction, going faster and faster. Finally they could make a figure a brown winged Pegasus and a cloaked figure. Leo sensed a familiar aura around him. Powerful, compelling…any other fancy word that’s related to “powerful”. “Do you think it’s going to be trouble?” Nico said quietly, slowly reaching out for his sword, but Leo stopped him. “I don’t think so,” Leo said. The neighbors, who apparently heard disturbance outside the streets in the middle of the night and decided to take a look, stared at the Pegasus oddly. Leo wondered what they were seeing. Probably a brown war tank or a hippo. Nico looked nervous and kept shuffling on his place. “Dude, are you okay? You look pretty ill.” “Huh?” Nico looked up. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine. It’s just…” The Pegasus stopped in front Leo and Nico, and stared at them for a while. Maybe he was trying to read their minds. Then he threw his hood back to reveal…a woman’s beautiful face. Leo’s stomach twisted. For a moment, he couldn’t breathe, and then he regained his composure and examined her properly, just to make sure it was her. Brown, long, braided hair, eyes that changed color that sometimes, whenever Leo tried to stare at it for long, it would make his own eyes burn, tall and graceful composure… “Piper?” Leo said incredulously. The woman let out a sigh of relief. “Thank god, it ''is you!” she exclaimed, dropping down from her ride and ran to hug Leo tightly. Leo was too stunned to say anything. He just stood there, getting bear-hugged by his old friend. Then he started to hear Piper’s silent sobs. Leo tried to look at her, but there was too much of her hair on his own face. He patted her back awkwardly and whispered, “Hey, now. My shirt’s going to get wet. And you’re hugging me too tightly.” Piper chuckled and let go of Leo. Then for a moment, she glared at him. Don’t you dare mention it. Leo raised his arms in surrender. Okay, fine, cool, whatever. “Uh, Hello? Do I look invisible to you guys?” Nico complained, waving his hands. Quickly, Piper wiped her tears and then smiled to Nico. “Good to see you, Nico,” she said. Then she went to him and gave him her bear-hug. Nico looked over her shoulder to get a good view of Leo and mouthed: what up with this woman? Leo simply shrugged. Don’t know. “So, Piper, what brings you here?” Leo started. And how did you find me? “Long story,” Piper managed. “Gosh, it’s been so long, guys, especially you, Leo. How long has it been? Ten years?” “More or less,” Leo said. “You should come inside you know, and make yourself at home. I’ll just park your horse at the back.” Nico followed Leo to the left narrow alley between his house and the apartment building, tugging the horse’s reins behind them. They were greeted by Leo’s automatons, waggling their tails and barking. Leo told them to be quiet and tied the reins on of the hound’s dog house. “Why is she here?” Nico pondered. “And how come she--” “—knows where I am? I don’t know. She probably asked for directions, simple as that.” Leo’s stomach was still twisting, looping in anxiety. Suddenly, a sharp pain panged the right side of his head. He shook it and took a deep breath. Nico was looking at him nervously, as if he was waiting for orders to murder someone and yet he wasn’t prepared. “You know about this, do you?” Leo said. “You know that, somehow, she’s coming into the city.” Nico blinked and shook his frantically. He was about to say something to defend himself, but then he stopped himself. He sighed in defeat. “Frank and Hazel didn’t want us to tell you. I’m really sorry, Leo. It was for your own good.” “That she would be marching in front of my house, confront me, and then suddenly start a friendly reunion?” “She came here for a different reason.” Leo turned away and sat on a small bench at the back of the yard. “Look, whatever your problems you have with her--” “I don’t have a problem with Piper.” “—you still have to hear her out.” “There’s a reason why I have to avoid her, distance myself from Piper.” “Is this why you had to run away ten years ago? Away from your best friends? Cut all your connections from them especially her?” Leo’s headache grew more intense. He was starting to get dizzy. He held his head to calm himself. Stop it, he told himself. It’s no time to sulk around. She needs your help. Just ignore the pain and talk to her. When Leo opened his eyes, he noticed the grass around him was starting to turn brown and crisp. He scowled. He let his emotions go amuck again. Salve the Bronze Hound sat in front of Leo, pawing his feet, looking solemn. Leo reached out and patted the automaton’s head. You think I’m mad? Don’t worry, I’m not mad. I’m just tired, that’s all. Everyone, especially demigods, get tired easily when they grow up, right? '' There was one thing he was sure about, though. Leo was going to have interesting week, and, hopefully, he wouldn’t reveal too much to Piper, or else, she wouldn’t forgive him. ''To be continued... Category:Short Story Category:One-shot Category:Fan Fiction Category:Tsubasafan101 Category:Leo Category:The Jackson Legacy